Guys with guns in the city of Baltimore: I got a Super Bowl Sunday gift for you. Some people pay $100 an hour to get this good stuff. You're getting it for free -- a little advice that could change your life. Here goes:

The feds are in the game now -- really in the game now -- so it's a good time to get out of it.

The feds are going to clothesline you, grab your mask, twist your neck and kick you in the groin. And no one's going to throw a flag.

Be a felon -- and many of you are -- with a gun in Baltimore and you're going away for a long time without parole.

You won't get to watch the big game with your homies again until something like Super Bowl LX.

Here's a suggestion: Get out of the game while you can. Put the guns away, throw them in the Patapsco. Go see the pastor of your mother's church. Give me a call and I'll help you find a real job, or put you in touch with people who can.

You don't want federal time.

You remember the North Avenue Boys? They were the bad dawgs around here for a while, selling heroin and crack for years, shooting and killing rivals.

But the North Avenue Boys are all gone now. Several are doing time in federal prison -- anywhere from 25 to 40 years each.

On Friday, yet another North Avenue Boy, former fugitive Corey Grant, got 20 years in prison for using a gun while dealing drugs.

Grant is just 27.

I remember 27, a beautiful time, an age when most young men are working hard and having fun -- establishing a career, buying a nice ride, wearing hip clothes, romancing the ladies, watching the Super Bowl with friends.

The feds, Baltimore cops and prosecutors finally have this project in place, and it's easy to understand: If you've already been convicted of a felony -- and many of you have -- and you get caught in Baltimore with a firearm, you're going federal for a long time.

It's the feds' effort to reduce the sickening rate of shootings and homicides in this town. They've already sent a bunch of guys away.

Ever heard of Jigga? It was another drug-dealing organization, the feds say. When police couldn't make a homicide case against a Jigga member, the feds went after him on firearms and narcotics charges. The suspect, Darrell Alston, pulled life plus five years. His co-defendant, Anthony Chandler, caught 24.

Here's just a short list of other repeat offenders, the time each got for having guns (without parole), and where the feds sent each to do his bit:

The treatment gets worse if the feds accuse you of committing a new crime with a gun.

Here's some expert advice on that from Charles G. Bernstein, an experienced Baltimore attorney who once served as the federal public defender here. Listen up.

"If the feds want you," Bernstein says, "conviction is likely. They have the resources to do their job properly, including protecting their witnesses."

"Using a firearm during a felony will get you a mandatory 30 years added onto the [10- to 20-year] sentence for the underlying crime. The judge has no discretion and must add those 30 years consecutive to your underlying sentence. Hence 30- to 50-year sentences are common. Who knows, we may see triple digits, and the Justice Department is not shy about seeking the death penalty for drug-related murders or witness intimidation.

"Once incarcerated, you will do about 85 percent of the time, assuming perfect behavior; if you are less than saintly, according to the guards who will monitor every aspect of your life, you will do more than 85 percent of the sentence.

"Federal prisons are often far away. Visits from your 'home boys,' 'baby mother,' kids and family will be rare. For example, the federal prison at Jonesville, Va., on the Tennessee border, is a bear to get to -- your visitors must fly to Charlotte, North Carolina, or Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, change planes to Tri-Cities, Tennessee, and then rent a car and drive an hour or two to the FCI. Or, they can drive 10-12 hours each way. ... In short, do not expect a lot of visits during your 30 or 50 years at an FCI. You will have a lonely, desolate existence, not a life.

"Further jacking up your sentence, as if any more were needed, are provisions making it very easy for Uncle Sam to label you a 'career offender' or 'armed career offender.' ... "The real kicker that surprises so many 'home boys' is how little is required to earn these titles. ... What you thought was a 'little' Maryland District Court assault charge and a single, petty drug distribution where you got PBJs [probations before judgment] will suffice to label you a 'career offender,' and you will catch 30 to 50 years without parole far away from anything that resembles home."

Argue their merits, if you like, Bernstein says, but these harsh penalties and policies exist, and they're being vigorously pursued.

"Therefore," Bernstein says, "unless you wish to spend many decades in an isolated stone cage, surrounding a much smaller iron one, and have every aspect of your life determined by people not particularly friendly or sensitive to your 'street culture' or to you, stop the drugs and guns, particularly if you already have one or two 'minor' state court beefs, including PBJs. Get out of the life!"

Drug dealers, former drug dealers and others with criminal records can obtain information about re-entry programs and jobs by contacting Dan Rodricks at 410-332-6166 or at dan.rodricks @baltsun.com. Additional information about job placement programs for ex-offenders is online at baltimoresun.com.

After shooting down the state's request for disaster aid for the second time last week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Maryland could recover costs associated with rioting that broke out after the death of Freddie Gray in other ways.

Sen. Ben Cardin has emerged as a central figure in the debate over the pending nuclear deal with Iran, joining a small group of lawmakers who could decide the future of one of President Barack Obama's most significant foreign policies.

After 10 people were shot — seven of them in one incident — overnight in Baltimore following the city's most violent month in decades, police announced Sunday that 10 federal agents will embed with the city's homicide unit for the next two months.